Missouri U.S. Senate candidate Greitens accused by ex-wife of home violence

Missouri Governor Eric Greitens seems in a police reserving photograph in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. February 22, 2018. St. Louis Metropolitan Police Dept./Handout through REUTERS

March 21 (Reuters) – The ex-wife of Eric Greitens, a former Missouri governor now mounting a run for U.S. Senate, accused the candidate in court docket papers made public on Monday of bodily violence towards her and the couple’s sons.

Greitens responded by posting an announcement to Twitter, calling Sheena Greitens’ accusations “lies” peddled by political operatives and the media.

“I’ll proceed to like and take care of my stunning sons with all of my being, and that features preventing for the reality and in opposition to utterly fabricated, baseless allegations,” Eric Greitens, a 47-year-old Republican, stated within the assertion.

“I’m in search of full custody of my sons and for his or her sake, I’ll proceed to wish for his or her mom and hope she will get the assistance that she wants,” he stated. The couple divorced in 2020.

Sheena Greitens stated in court docket paperwork filed as a part of the couple’s little one custody proceedings that in an argument at their house in 2018, Eric Greitens knocked her down and confiscated her telephone, pockets and keys.

She stated that Eric Greitens, who saved a firearm hidden in the home, took a photograph that invaded her privateness and threatened to kill himself until she supported him publicly throughout a separate political scandal.

Sheena Greitens stated that her then-husband as soon as “cuffed” their 3-year-old son. In November of 2019, certainly one of her sons got here house from a go to along with his father with a swollen face, bleeding gums and a free tooth, she stated, and instructed her that his father had struck him.

A number of candidates in search of the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in opposition to Greitens known as for him to drop out They had been joined by Sen. Josh Hawley, Republican from Missouri.

“Should you hit a lady or a toddler, you belong in handcuffs, not the US Senate. It’s time for Eric Greitens to go away this race,” Hawley stated on Twitter.

Eric Greitens was elected governor of Missouri in 2017 however resigned in June 2018 as he confronted accusations of sexual misconduct. The couple break up up in 2018 after the resignation.

Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Modifying by Mark Porter

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